Dynamic scaling of the structure function for spinodal decomposition in critical and non-critical mixtures of poly(vinyl acetate)-poly(methyl methacrylate)

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The dynamics of phase separation in a binary polymer blend of poly(vinyl acetate) with poly(methyl methacrylate) was investigated by using a time-resolved light-scattering technique. In the later stages of spinodal decomposition, a simple dynamic scaling law was found for the scattering function S(q, t)(S(q, t) ∼ I(q, t)):S(q, t)q −3 m S ̃ ( q q m ) . The scaling function determine experimentally was in good agreement with that predicted by Furukawa, S ̃ (X) ∼ X 2 (3 + X 8) for critical concentration, and approximately in agreement with that predicted by Furukawa, S ̃ (X) ∼ X 2 (3 + X 6) for non-critical mixtures. The light-scattering invariant shows that the later stages of the spinodal decomposition were undergoing domain ripening.